Truth Will Set You Free
by fallenangel1115
Summary: Dean is a cab driver in Chicago. Routine day turns his life upside down when a mysterious man in a trenchcoat gets in the backseat and tells him to step on it.
1. Stranger

**AN: This is my new fic! It has nothing to do with my other one! Thanks for checking this out**

Dean was sitting in his yellow cab that was parked on the side of a busy Chicago street with the light on saying he was available. His one track mind was repeating one thought over and over. _I hate this job, I hate this job, I hate this job…_ As he repeated that, he filled out his log from his last trip. He had taken someone to O'Hare which was at least a half hour away from where he was now but that was when traffic's good. But in Chicago? Traffic was never good, so the trip was longer than he had hoped and the guy was a lousy tipper to top it off.

The passenger's side door to the backseat opened. Dean finished writing before looking into the rearview mirror as he set the sheet down. He was met by an intense gaze from a pair of deep blue eyes. A handsome face with a five o'clock shadow surrounded the eyes and unruly dark hair stuck up all over the place on top of his head.

"Where, uh, where to, man?" Dean asked, followed by a small cough. He couldn't help but be flustered at this odd but attractive guy in a trenchcoat sitting in the back of his taxi.

The mysterious man still said nothing. He paused for a moment before turning to look out the back window. Dean followed suit and checked it out.

On the sidewalk were two people causing a commotion in the early evening foot traffic. It was a woman with her brunette hair pulled back into a sharp bun and a black guy, fit with short black hair, both dressed in business attire. They were running towards the cab and closing quickly and were clearly looking for someone.

Their eyes found Dean's cab and they moved with more eagerness, if that were possible, upon seeing the man in the backseat.

"Friends of yours?" Dean asked, although he could figure out that answer pretty quickly and didn't like where this was headed.

"I would not characterize them as my friends," was the response. It was a deeper voice than Dean was expecting. "I don't want to tell you how to do your job but you might want to step on it," he continued.

Dean's eyes widened as he could see the terrible duo pulling guns from side holsters hidden by their suit jackets. He didn't need telling twice as he punched it, swerving into traffic and getting several honks from other drivers. As a cab driver in a city, he was used to that. Being shot at? Not so much.

"What the hell, man?" Dean yelled as a couple of shots dinged parts of the cab. One of the taillights might have been busted. The windows were fine and the car could still drive so he assumed they were okay. For now, at least.

"They're after something I have," the passenger said simply, as if this was a normal, everyday occurrence for him. Dean was going to ask what he meant but got distracted by what he saw in the rearview mirror. The man and woman were getting into a shiny, white Escalade driven by a third party. _It was safe to guess he wasn't a friend either_, Dean thought bitterly.

The Escalade cut through traffic, swerving and speeding and gaining on the taxi. A shot rang out and then another. Dean tried to focus on the road and lose them and not get shot. _I do _not_ get paid enough to be shot at._

The back window shattered as a third bullet was fired. Glass rained onto the man in the backseat who had ducked down when shots had started to be fired.

"Are you okay?" Dean yelled. He didn't want blood in his cab, it was bad enough the company would probably dock him for the window.

"I'm fine," came a muffled response from the huddled mass behind Dean.

"All right, hang on," Dean advised, making a very sharp and immediate right turn. Their pursuers weren't quick enough and kept going straight.

"Yes! We lost them!" Dean exclaimed, pumping a fist into the air. "I'm awesome."

The excitement was short-lived because the random assailants must have made the quickest U-turn in history and were again chasing the taxi.

"Oh, come on!" Dean shouted, slamming his hands on the steering wheel. More shots rang out but were pretty far off of their mark. He was trying his best to swerve and weave but the beginning of rush hour traffic was making that exceedingly difficult.

The Escalade was gaining and the two who were running still had their guns trained on the cab. As they pulled up level to the cab's right side, the woman was about to fire from the backseat right at Dean when their car hit one of the many potholes that curse Chicago streets. She still fired but thankfully the bullet hit the front tire.

Well, Dean thought it was 'thankfully', until they started spinning out of control. The Escalade sped away and disappeared into traffic as the taxi spun and slammed into a light pole with the left side, crushing the back door. Dean's head hit the window and he blinked away the black spots dancing at the edge of his vision.

"Hey, man, are you okay?" he asked, turning to face the backseat. The man was sitting up, shaking glass off of his coat and looking dazed but unharmed.

"Yes. We should go."

"We? Go? What are you talking about? I just drive a cab! They're after _you_, not me!"

"They'll figure out who you are and then you'll be a part of this, too. So we should go."

Dean couldn't believe his day had gotten this worse. What this stranger was saying made sense, from what he knew of the crazy people who had tried to kill them. _Of all the cabs in Chicago…_

"Fine. My brother lives pretty close. Let's go," Dean said reluctantly as he began to walk away from the destroyed cab. "before they come back." He turned to make sure his new "friend" was coming with and laughed a little.

"What?"

"We almost died and I don't even know your name."

"Castiel," Castiel said with a small smile.

"Dean," Dean answered as they walked down the street together.


	2. Sam

Dean and Castiel headed down the street at a brisk pace keeping an eye out for a certain white Escalade. It was nowhere to be seen, for now.

"So, you believe your brother can help?" Castiel asked.

"Of course, he's a lawyer," Dean said proudly. As they walked, Dean was still convinced he was dreaming. There was no way anything like this would happen to him, his life was boring. Ordinary. _This was definitely better than driving that damn cab_, Dean thought.

They finally reached an apartment building and decided no one was following them so they went in. Castiel commented on how it's a nice building and Dean agreed. Stepping out of the elevator on the fourth floor, Castiel followed Dean to the left and stopped at number 4109. Dean knocked.

A tall blonde woman in pale pink nurse's scrubs answered the door.

"Jess! Good to see you!" Dean grinned, pulling the woman into a hug.

"Uh, hey Dean. What's going on?" Jess answered, grimacing a little from the tight hug.

"Oh, nothing! Nothing, just haven't seen you in a while, that's all. Sammy home?" Dean asked, peering around Jess into the apartment.

"Yeah, come on in. I was just heading to work actually," she said, eyeing Castiel warily as they stepped inside and Jess closed the door. Dean was going to introduce him but was interrupted by a ridiculously tall guy in a suit come from the hallway on the right. Castiel assumed he had just come home from work. He had brown hair almost to his shoulder. He seemed slightly taken aback by seeing Dean.

"Heya, Sammy," Dean said, pulling him into a hug.

"Hey, Dean," Sam responded, returning the hug and looking at Castiel over Dean's shoulder.

They broke the hug almost as soon as it started. Sam quickly said bye to Jess before she left for work and then turned to face Dean and Castiel.

"So, what's going on?" Sam asked Dean, but was looking at Castiel. The three of them were standing in the entryway to the apartment.

"Oh, right. Sam, this is Castiel. Castiel, my little brother, Sam," Dean quickly got through the introductions and the two men shook hands and exchanged pleasantries.

"How did you two, uh, meet?" Sam asked, his eyebrows still knit in confusion and his eyes now on Dean.

"Well, I was driving," Dean started.

"Your taxi?" Sam interrupted. Castiel wondered if it really had been a while since the brothers had talked.

"Yeah, and Castiel here got in," Dean said, gesturing to Castiel, "but then we were being chased by some crazies with guns in an Escalade and then I crashed and we were close by…"

"You were shot at? And crashed your cab?" Sam asked with now raised eyebrows. Castiel had the feeling he didn't believe the story. He didn't blame him, it was pretty far-fetched. He wouldn't believe it himself if he hadn't been there.

"Don't worry, we're fine," Dean joked sarcastically, seeming to pick up on Sam's disbelief.

"Glad to hear it," Sam sighed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What? What's with the sigh?" Dean demanded, crossing his arms to mirror his brother.

"Nothing, Dean. It's just…" he sighed again. "this isn't the first time you've come to me with some ridiculous story and then just needed money."

Hurt flashed on Dean's face and Castiel felt like he was interrupting a private family moment. The hurt turned to anger in a flash and Dean's emerald eyes were on fire.

"Well, we couldn't all go to Stanford and become bigshot lawyers, Sam! True, I've come to you for help in the past, but this time is different!"

"How?" was Sam's simple answer. He seemed tired of this charade.

"I'm not asking for money and I'm telling the truth!"

"If you're not asking for money, then why are you here?"

"I need your help! We were just shot at!" Dean shouted.

"So, take it up with the police!" Sam yelled back.

Dean sighed and looked at the ground.

"I thought it would be good to see you, Sam. It's been too long."

"Two years. I know," Sam sighed, running a hand through his hair. There was a pause that was gradually getting more uncomfortable. Dean and Sam were both looking down and Castiel didn't know what to say.

"Fine. Let's get going, Castiel," Dean said finally, opening the door to leave.

Dean and Castiel headed out the door, shut it behind them, and were heading to the elevator. Dean was about to press the down button when Sam called, "Wait!" behind them.

They turned. Sam stood in his doorway.

"Dean, I know we don't always see eye to eye but if you need help, I'm here. You're still my brother," he proclaimed. He smiled, but it was small and reluctant.

"Thanks, Sam," Dean said, heading back to the apartment. Castiel followed.

They sat around the dining room table and retold the story with more detail.

"What do you have that they're after?" Sam asked. "And who are they?"

"I meant to ask that, too," Dean added.

"I have a flash drive," Castiel responded shortly.

Sam and Dean waited for him to elaborate.

"What's on it?" they asked at the same time when Castiel said nothing.

Castiel looked back and forth between the two brothers before he said, "It has information. Information to prove that I didn't kill someone."

"Wait, what?" Dean exclaimed, eyes wide with surprise.

"I've been accused of murder," Castiel said nonchalantly. Dean and Sam took a moment to process that information.

"Murder?" Dean said in disbelief. Sure he just met the guy but murder? He just drove an alleged murderer around in a car chase and then brought him to his brother?

"I didn't kill anyone!" Castil said indignantly. "Honestly!"

Dean believed him even though he barely knew him. He couldn't even explain it even if he wanted to try but he really believed him and he wanted to help him prove his innocence.

Sam looked less sure.

"So, what about the people in the Escalade?"

Castiel was about to answer when his cell phone started to ring.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Castiel, I hope you didn't get hurt in that crash. I believe you have something that belongs to us."


	3. Skyline

Castiel paused. "I, uh, don't know what you're talking about," he said finally.

"Yes, you do. Now, make this easier on yourself and tell me where you and your cabbie friend are," the woman's voice answered.

"Look, Naomi…" "We will not stop until we get that flash drive. Where are you? I won't ask again."

"I'm not going to tell you." "Fine. See you soon," Naomi snapped before hanging up.

Castiel swallowed and put his phone in his pocket.

"That the woman who tried to kill us?" Dean asked. Castiel just nodded.

"Great. She's still after us?" Castiel nodded again. "Awesome. What do we do now?" Dean wondered.

"Um, Dean? Can I talk to you for a quick second?" Sam asked, with a troubled look on his face. Dean's gaze left Castiel's face.

"Yeah, sure," he told his brother. They left Castiel at the table to go to the larger of the two bedrooms in the apartment.

"Dean, you can't help this guy, you don't know him! He could be dangerous and he already almost got you killed, if he's telling the truth," Sam exclaimed in a hushed tone.

"I believe him. And I want to help," Dean replied, shortly.

"Why?"

"Why?" Dean repeated. "Because my life's boring, that's why! I drive a cab when I want to be fixing cars. I don't see you anymore and I believe the guy, all right?"

Sam sighed. "Fine. How can I help?"

Dean seemed taken aback but glad Sam was on board. They headed back to Castiel at the table and tried to figure out what was going on.

"If we're going to help you, you have to tell us everything, okay?" Sam said.

"Okay," Castiel agreed. "The woman on the phone was Naomi. She works for a ridiculously large, wealthy business. I work for an accounting firm and we were crunching their numbers, my team and I, and we found some irregularities. The business is shady and upper management is corrupt, stealing money and reallocating funds they have no right touching." Some of this flew over Dean's head (he was smart, but not math smart) but Sam seemed to be following. "Go on," Sam encouraged. "My team is myself and two other guys, Gabriel and Balthazar. We handled Naomi's company's file and discovered the problem. We confronted her and the guy she was with today, Raphael, about it. They told us not to worry, that everything was clean. Next thing I know, Balthazar's dead and I'm being framed," Castiel explained in a very rushed manner.

"So, on the flash drive is…?" Dean asked.

"Proof that I'm innocent and it destroys the case against me," Castiel clarified.

"Don't you have a lawyer?" Sam asked.

"Some crappy public defender… Crow, Crowrey, Crane…" Castiel got lost in thought.

"Crowley?" Sam guessed.

"That's him!" Castiel said, snapping his fingers.

"Shit," Sam spat.

"What's wrong with him?" Dean asked.

"He's the slimiest lawyer I've ever met," Sam explained.

"Wait, if you were accused of murder, how are you out?" Dean asked.

"Oh, Gabriel helped me get out," Castiel answered, like it was obvious.

"Like, escaped?" Sam said, with raised eyebrows.

"I guess you could call it that," Castiel responded. Dean's jaw dropped slightly and Sam was looking at Dean with his signature bitchface.

"Shit," Dean finally said. "Now what?"

"I can't help now!" Sam admitted. "Not if he's a fugitive. Look, why don't we take you back, talk to Crowley and see if that flash drive can help your case at all?"

"We could try," Castiel agreed. Dean let out a sigh of relief. As much fun as this was, he didn't really want to harbor a fugitive.

* * *

The three of them walked a few short blocks to Dean's apartment. Castiel could tell right away that this apartment was not as nice as Sam's. He figured lawyers would make more than a mechanic turned cab driver. Plus, Sam had Jess who also worked. As far as Castiel could tell, Dean was single.

Parked behind the apartment building was the most beautiful car Castiel had ever seen and it seemed like Dean was walking right towards it. He pulled keys out of his pocket and Sam was heading towards the passenger seat. Castiel paused. Dean stood next to the driver's side door and turned to look at him. The car was sleek, long and black. It was clearly old because the edges were all sharp, unlike new cars that are rounded out. A lot of care and work must have been put into it because it was clearly in great condition.

"What's wrong?" Dean seemed puzzled.

"Nothing, this is your car?" Dean nodded.

"Yeah, why?"

"It's beautiful!" Castiel breathed.

Sam laughed as he got in the passenger seat, shutting the door behind him.

"Yup! She sure is," Dean said proudly. Castiel couldn't help but continue to stare at the car. Dean coughed a little and Castiel realized he was making the situation awkward.

"Sorry, I…" Castiel started, looking down.

"No, it's fine. Really. Let's go, Cas," Dean said, turning to get in the car.

Castiel's head snapped up. "Did you call me Cas?" he asked. Dean looked over. Now he looked awkward.

"Oh, uh… my bad…"

"I like it," Castiel said, genuinely.

Dean smiled. "Get in the car, you two!" Sam interrupted. Dean could almost hear him rolling his eyes.

They both laughed and joined Sam in the car.

* * *

They decided that the best course of action would be to find Gabriel and get his help in this situation as well. Even though it might not have been safe, they headed back to where Cas said he worked. It was a red building facing Lake Michigan on Wabash Avenue in the Loop.

"You work in the CNA building?" Dean asked with raised eyebrows, clearly impressed. Cas seemed a little uncomfortable by this attention.

"Um, yeah. It's not a big deal…"

"It is! This building has some of the best views of the city probably!" Dean burst out. Sam gave him a funny look out of the corner of his eyes that only Cas saw and no one said anything. They entered the building and headed to the elevators. Cas pressed the button for the 30th floor.

"That's pretty high," Dean commented, probably louder than he wanted to say, if he meant to say it at all.

"Which way does your office face?" Sam wondered, to change the subject and put Dean at ease.

"The lake," Cas answered as the elevator continued to rise. Stepping out of the elevator, they turned to the left. Two companies shared this floor, according to Dean. Once inside the area where Cas's company was, they headed towards the back where there were offices instead of cubicles. Cas passed the door labeled, "Castiel Novak," and knocked on the office door next to it.

"Come in," they heard, so they opened the door and headed in. Behind the desk in the decently sized office was a man who was actually pretty short once he stood up. He had unruly brown hair and mischievous brown eyes.

"Hello, Gabriel," Cas greeted.


	4. Scared

"Castiel! Glad to see the police haven't found you yet," Gabriel replied with a grin.

"This is Gabriel?" Dean said with a raise of his eyebrows, cutting off what Cas was going to say.

"Yeah, who are you?" Gabriel said, stepping forward to stand facing Dean. He wasn't very intimidating due to him being about 5 inches shorter.

"They're going to help. This is Dean and that's his brother, Sam. He's a lawyer," Cas reasoned, moving his way between Dean and Gabriel, effectively dissolving the tension.

"Oh! Why didn't you say so! Nice to meet you guys," Gabriel said to the brothers over Cas's shoulder. Gabriel sat behind his desk after they shook hands and the other three sat in the chairs in front of it to face him.

"So, what have you been up to since your little escape?" Gabriel asked, his eyes trained on Cas.

"I was followed by Naomi and Raphael and they tried to kill Dean and I," Cas explained.

"How do you know Dean?" Gabriel asked Cas, but his eyes were now on Dean.

"Cas just got into my cab, I met him today," Dean said, starting to get annoyed. There were murderers chasing them, murderers who knew were Cas worked. They only had a little time and couldn't waste it here.

"Cas?" Gabriel said with a sarcastic smirk, raising his eyebrows. It was pretty quick to be handing out nicknames, if they just met after all.

"Look, we have more pressing issues at hand here," Dean snapped. He feel his brother's eyes on him and when he turned to look, Sam was sharing Gabriel's smirk.

"He's right. We need a plan and I need to see what's on that flash drive," Sam said, still with a small smile, causing Dean to roll his eyes. Cas grabbed the flash drive out of his pocket and they plugged it into Gabriel's computer on his desk. The four of them crowded around to see what was so important. Cas opened the files and the first thing were a bunch of documents that he explained and detailed the corruption and money laundering that was going on at Naomi's company.

"This has everything I highlighted that didn't add up with their numbers, all with Naomi's name on top of it. It also has security tape footage of me working here all night when Balthazar was murdered. When I told the police, they looked and all security tapes were scratched from that night except for what's on here. I got this when I broke into their building and then they started to chase me."

"So, this flash drive is pretty important?" Gabriel said with just a hint of sarcasm.

"You think?" Dean shot at him with a glare.

"All right," Sam said, breaking up their staring contest. "This was after Gabriel helped you escape police custody?"

"Yeah," Cas answered, still not seeming to grasp the severity of that fact.

"Okay, so we need to get this flash drive to Crowley so he knows what's on it before you go to court," Sam explained. Before anyone could say anything else, the door to Gabriel's office was forcibly swung open. Police officer after officer entered the office, until there were six of them.

"Castiel Novak? We have a warrant for your arrest on the charges of murder and escaping police custody," one of the officers said, holding up a warrant. Two other officers walked behind the desk to place Cas in handcuffs. His mouth was in a small "O" of surprise but he went without complaint.

"Don't worry, Cas. We'll get this to Crowley, it'll be fine," Dean said as they took Cas away.

"So, what now?" Dean asked Gabriel and Sam.

"Now, we get this flash drive to Crowley." Sam said with a shrug.

"You do what you gotta do, I'm out," Gabriel said, putting his hands up in surrender.

"Are you kidding?" Dean asked with disbelief.

"What? I'm not the one who's arrested, I've still got work to do here," Gabriel said.

He removed the flash drive from his computer, handed it to Dean and opened some other work documents. "So, if you don't mind…"

Sam scoffed and headed to the door, pausing in the frame. Dean stayed for a second then started to walk towards Sam, but turned back to Gabriel when he was almost at the door.

"You know what, you're a coward," Dean spat.

Gabriel stopped typing and looked up, looking a little peeved, but not saying anything.

"Your friend was murdered and your other friend is on trial for it and you're not going to do anything? Hell, we just met Cas and we're doing more for him." Gabriel looked down, taking the abuse. He had to know Dean was making some good points. They didn't know Cas but Dean felt like he couldn't just leave the guy now.

After a moment of silence, Sam and Dean left Gabriel's office.

The brothers headed to the elevator and once the doors closed, Sam turned to Dean. "Okay, so we need to get this to Crowley. I know his office, it isn't too far from here."

"You're still on board?" Dean asked with a skeptical look.

"Yeah. Look, I know we don't always get along but I want to help. I wasn't extremely busy and it shouldn't take too long to get this cleared up." Dean just nodded.

The elevator stopped on the first floor and they headed to the Impala. Right as they reached the car, Dean's phone started to ring. It wasn't a number he recognized. He looked at Sam who just shrugged. Dean did too and then answered anyways.

"Hello?" "Dean Winchester," said a cool, intimidating female voice. Dean could only guess it was Naomi.

"Naomi, right? How'd you get this number? Hell, how do you know my name?" Dean looked over the car at Sam, whose face matched his own with concern.

"You'd be surprised what we know and what we can find out. Such as, we know you have the flash drive now and we'd very much like that back."

"I bet you would but that's not going to happen."

"Fine. We'll get it back one way or another. I mean, we know everything about you so it can't be too hard to find the right buttons to push so you give it back."

The line went dead.


End file.
